Do it yourself canvas pictures… You can do it. It’s not as hard as it may look and it is so much more affordable than buying pictures printed on canvas. I don’t want a lot of words on this post because I’m afraid that will make you think it’s hard and not even try, so I am including pictures and I’ll try and give you a step by step, short, sweet, to the point post on how to do your own canvas pictures.

I went to Michaels and Hobby Lobby and bought the canvas. My sweet friend Jessica who’s a photographer (she’s amazing and I will for sure be posting on her as she is my FAVORITE photographer – she did all the pictures I used on my canvas, but that is another post for another day) answered all the many questions I had along the way, I was so grateful for her help. Look on Pinterest if you need help with a layout. Mostly figure out a layout that will fit the wall you want to add the pictures to and if you only want one picture then that will be easy. I laid mine out on the floor (see picture above) using about the same space as I would use on the wall. I did it on the floor so I could move the canvas around until I got it just right. I chose a 24×36 for the big picture mostly because Costco prints that size, and then I wanted 12X12’s for the individual pictures of my kids so I placed those first and then filled in the gaps with 11×14’s, 8×10’s and 5×7’s. Michaels was my favorite place to get the canvas and most of the time it was 50% off. Always take a coupon with you in case it is not on sale so you can get at least 40% off; never pay full price. Here is a Hobby Lobby coupon if you want to go there; they have canvas as well along with a million other places I am sure. I just looked and even Amazon has canvas (here’s a link for a 24×36 like I got and here’s a link for 12×12′s, 11×14’s, 8×10’s, and 5×7’s). I think Michael’s might have the best prices but you’ll have to shop that part out.

My hubby, being the kind soul that he is, measured everything out and placed in on the wall for me exactly how I had laid it out on the floor (see above picture sorry it’s a little blurry). Then when I knew exactly what sizes I would need I ordered the prints off Costco online. You can order them from wherever you want, that’s just where I went; I love their quality for the price.

Then one by one I took each canvas off the wall and laid it on a plastic table cloth on my kitchen table (use newspaper, paper towels whatever you want to use to protect your table or counter, I just like to have something laid down because you will get Mod Podge on things and it’s like glue). Make sure your picture fits and trim the excess (I used a paper cutter and scissors). I used a foam paint brush like this and then painted Mod Podge (I used a coupon to Hobby Lobby and got mine there, but I didn’t realize Amazon had it for a good price) on the canvas. Once the Mod Podge is on the canvas I placed the picture on the canvas and rubbed the picture from left to right and top to bottom to make sure I pushed out any air bubbles. I let that dry for about an hour and then placed another coat of Mod Podge over the top of the actual picture that was now on the canvas making my streaks left to right across the whole picture. If you want a linen look to your pictures after your left to right Mod Podge dries you can paint a coat on and run the brush top to bottom. It may be scary painting the Mod Podge on the pictures at first but it is pretty forgiving stuff and it dries clear, so be brave – you can do it. After everything is done hang pictures and enjoy. It saved me a TON of money doing it this way and I LOVE the way the wall turned out. It is for sure my favorite wall in my house (as long as having a favorite wall isn’t weird:). All my favorites and greatest treasures are right there for me to look at each and every day and I just love it; my masterpiece is what I call it. The blank canvas didn’t just get forgotten either we saved that special for our baby who’s coming in May.

I was a bit skeptical at first myself but give these a try. I promise you’ll love them; you’ll never boil another egg. I follow a bunch of clean eating Instagram accounts and have seen this in numerous places. I decided I better just give this method a try, so I did just a few weeks ago for the first time and I am in LOVE. When I am really focusing on clean eating (I haven’t been as perfect at this being pregnant), hard boiled eggs are one of my “go to” snacks. I always keep them in the fridge, peeled and ready to eat or toss in a salad. Eggs are so good for you (that’s a conversation for another day). I have a food prep day (which I’ll talk more about in a future post) but I would always boil my eggs, peel them and then store them in a plastic Ziploc sack in my fridge. Well, prepping eggs just got easier. Here’s how you do it:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Place eggs in a muffin tin, put them in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After removing the eggs from the oven put them directly in an ice bath for 10 minutes (I grab a bowl put a good amount of ice in the bowl and fill the rest of the way with water).

After cooling in the ice bath for 10 minutes remove them from the water and peel, store peeled eggs in plastic zip loc sack or tupperware. ENJOY!

I had asked my hubby for the Cutco cheese knife for Christmas this last year. My mom and sister have that knife and I just LOVE it. When he went to buy it, it was priced around $60 just for one knife. I don’t love spending money if I don’t have to (some things are worth spending a few extra $ for), but I wanted to see if I could find anything comparable for a fraction of the price so of course I searched Amazon so I could read some reviews and found this little gem.The reviews were fantastic and it was right around $10 which was a steal compared to $60 so he ordered it for me for Christmas and I have loved it. I’ll be honest I have only been using it since January of this year but so far I am a huge fan. It chops veggies, fruits, cheese, meat, you name it. It chops it well, it’s one of the best knives we own and it was $10! I spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing food for my family of 9 and because I cook with a lot of fruits/veggies this knife really does speed things up and comes in handy so often in my kitchen, plus I love that the top has 2 prongs on it which makes it so handy when cutting into packages like the wrapping around a cucumber or the plastic around chicken apple sausage (another favorite i’ll be sure to share) or other tight fitting plastics you encounter while preparing food. Just another reason why it’s one of my FAVES. If you don’t have a good knife like this I would totally recommend this one. You can go here if you want to order it from Amazon or look at your local store to see if you can find anything comparable. I would love to hear all your reviews if you decide to try it or find something comparable. Happy Chopping!

Hi I'm Deb, here to share all my favorites with you. We all have a natural desire, when we come across something good, wonderful or just plain amazing to share it with others. Often those things we love and enjoy become our favorites. I have lots of favorites from, family and friends, exercise and nutrition, down to my favorite toy for toddlers or kitchen gadget that has saved my life. I love sharing things I love with others and hope you'll enjoy trying them out and maybe along the way you'll find a few new favorites yourself.